Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: The National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) engages negatively on climate policy. The group has limited top-line communications on climate change and undertakes obstructive advocacy on climate-related regulations at the federal, state, and local levels in the US, alongside promoting the use of fossil gas (propane).
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: NPGA has limited high level communications on climate action. In the group’s website, accessed in November 2024, it broadly supported a net-zero target, although it did not specify a date for this target. However, in comments submitted to the New York state government in June 2022, NPGA opposed action to reduce GHG emissions and government efforts to respond to climate change in the state, claiming that “acting locally” on GHG emissions “may have no effect on global climate temperatures.” InfluenceMap could not find any evidence of the group’s position on the Paris Agreement.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: NPGA is negatively engaged on climate-related regulations in the US. The group strongly opposes energy efficiency policy and has undertaken legal action against such proposals. For instance, NPGA alongside other associations took legal action against the US Department of Energy's energy efficiency standards for furnaces and water heaters in April 2024. Similarly, it opposed the US Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to phase out labelling and promotion of residential gas furnaces under the ENERGY STAR program in June 2023 comments. NPGA undertook similar advocacy against energy efficiency policies in July and October 2022.
Positioning on Energy Transition: NPGA engages negatively on the energy transition and consistently advocates for an increased role for propane. For instance, in November 2024 comments to the US Internal Revenue Service’s Section 30C Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit, NPGA advocated to subsidize propane refueling infrastructure. On the website, accessed in November 2024, NPGA claimed that propane is “lower-carbon” and that domestic use of propane in developing countries “helps prevent deforestation”.
NPGA is strongly opposed to measures that seek to phase out fossil gas in buildings. A November 2024 press release outlined the group's support for the Energy Choice Act that prevents US state and local governments from enacting policies to phase out fossil gas. In addition, press releases on the website in June and July 2024 disclosed NPGA’s advocacy, including through legal action, against building decarbonization proposals in Riverside City, California and Denver, Colorado respectively. In February 2023 comments, the group opposed the Department of Energy’s proposed energy performance standards that phase out fossil fuel use in new and newly renovated federal buildings. The group has also opposed building electrification proposals in New York Climate Action Council’s Scoping Plan in June 2022 comments.
InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q4 2024